Lakers should tell Dennis Schroder to kick rocks on extension talks

The Los Angeles Lakers traded Danny Green and the 28th overall selection in the 2020 NBA Draft to the Oklahoma City Thunder for Dennis Schroder in the offseason. Since then, the Lakers have been working towards extending Schroder and keeping him in the purple and gold for several years.

Schroder has been good, albeit not as good as he could be, for the Lakers this season. But still, his impact was never more obvious than in the four games that he missed due to the league’s health and safety protocols.

The Lakers, even with LeBron James playing, looked stagnant in those four games.

His on/off numbers are telling as well. The Lakers’ offensive rating is six points better when Schroder is on the court as opposed to when he is off the court. He is averaging 15.4 points, 4.9 assists and 3.5 rebounds per game.

It is evident from the Lakers’ latest reported extension offer that they recognize the impact that Schroder has on the team. However, Schroder seemingly thinks he has an even larger impact. On the ‘Brian Windhorst & The Hoop Collective‘ podcast, Windhorst said that Schroder turned down a four-year, $84 million contract extension.

Schroder turned down a four-year deal that would have paid him $21 million per season. Now, there is only one proper response from the Lakers.

The Los Angeles Lakers should tell Dennis Schroder to kick rocks in extension talks.

Okay, so Rob Pelinka shouldn’t literally tell Schroder to kick rocks as that would kill his morale but the Lakers should not offer anything more than they already have offered. A four-year, $84 million extension is absolutely a fair offer and should be the point in which the Lakers do not budge.

I would guess, and this is just theorizing, that Schroder wants to hit nine figures. A four-year, $100 million contract would pay him $4 million more per season but allow him to hit that coveted $100 million mark.

MORE: Ranking the biggest threats in the West after the trade deadline

I don’t think he is going to say yes to a four-year, $88 million offer if he said no to $84 million, nor should the Lakers offer more. $21 million per season is extremely fair.

Schroder is a solid player but he is not worth $25 million and you could even make the case that $21 million is a bit of an overpay. Yes, the Lakers did not look the same with Schroder out but the team also does not have a second point guard that can actually take the ball up the court.

The counterpoint to this argument would be that Schroder would then become trade bait. He could be the in-between contract that can be packaged with Kyle Kuzma for a superstar in the future. That could happen, but with no draft capital to really trade, I find it extremely unlikely that a team will look at $21 million to Dennis Schroder over multiple years as a good asset.

Nothing is more telling than how the league valued Schroder before he was a Thunder and Laker. Schroder was included in the Carmelo Anthony trade in which the Hawks added Melo simply to buy him out and save money over multiple years from getting rid of Schroder.

Schroder has improved since then but he was not valuable as a trade chip for Atlanta when he was younger and there was more potential for growth. Why would he suddenly jump in value now that he is older?

I don’t think the Lakers can realistically package Schroder in a future trade for a superstar and I do not think he is worth more than $21 million. The Lakers also have to work out contracts with Alex Caruso and Talen Horton-Tucker and I would much rather the Lakers spend half of that money for a point guard that is 80-90% of what Schroder is if it means keeping THT.

Dennis Schroder turned down an extremely generous offer from the Los Angeles Lakers and that should be as high as the team is willing to go. Let other teams get in a bidding war for Dennis Schroder in the offseason.